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Cyril O’Connor is a chemical engineer with a Ph.D. from the University of Cape Town and a D.Eng. in Metallurgical Engineering from Stellenbosch University. He is presently the Director of the Centre for Minerals Research at UCT (www.cmr.uct.ac.za) and his main area of research is flotation. He is a member of the Executive of the Academy of Engineering of South Africa and is CEO of the South African Minerals to Metals Research Institute. He was the founder Director of the Centre for Catalysis Research which is located in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Cape Town. He is presently Chairman of the International Mineral Processing Council, holds the AngloAmerican Platinum Chair in Minerals Processing, is a former Vice-President of the International Zeolite Association and has served from time to time on other international scientific committees and review panels. He was Chairman of the Organizing Committee for the XXII International Mineral Processing Congress (2003) and the 14th International Zeolite Conference (2004). He has published over 200 papers in international journals and international refereed conference proceedings, has supervised more than 30 PhD and 25 MSc graduates and is a National Research Foundation A rated researcher. Prior to his retirement at the end of 2009 he was Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering (8 years), Dean of the Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment (10 years) and served as an Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor in 2008/9. He is a Hon. Fellow and Fellow of the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, a Fellow of, respectively, the Royal Society of South Africa, the University of Cape Town, the South African Academy of Engineering, the South African Institution of Chemical Engineering, IUPAC and is a founder member of the Academy of Science of South Africa.